Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

kijii The House of Rothschild was nominated for Best Picture in 1934 and although I would love to see this movie completely restored. In this movie, George Arliss takes on the roles of both the elder Rothchild, Mayer Amschel Rothchild (in the 1780 Frankfort Prussian "Jew Street" ghetto) and his son, Nathan. Nathan succeeds him (in London) as the leader of the Rothchild family. The family would place themselves throughout the great European cities at that time and always act as a group whenever they made large financial decisions. In spite of widespread anti-Semitism and pograms throughout Europe, the Rothchilds became a powerful financial empire, able to overcome other larger banks and financial institutions. They did this through their cohesiveness and lines of communication during the Napoleonic Wars. Even when other banks were predicting Wellington's defeat and the collapse of England, the House of Rothchild remained true to England, the allies. and freedom. The story contains a subplot of Nathan Rothchild's daughter, Julie (Loretta Young), falling in love with one of Wellington's officers, Capt. Fitzroy (Robert Young). The problem with this film is that it contained some scenes that the Nazis could later take out of context, place a negative spin on, and use to make their case against the Jews. The opening scenes of Mayer Amschel Rothchild hiding his money from the tax collector and then pleading poverty probably just played right into Hitler's hands to show his audience the "tricky money-grabbing Jew bleeding the country dry." So, the Nazis DID use scenes from it to make such Nazi propaganda films as Der ewige Jude (1940) and Die Rothschilds (1940).

Neil Doyle While I wasn't overly impressed with Mr. George Arliss and his interpretation of Nathan Rothschild (in a very stilted theatrical manner)--nor the film itself--I was very impressed by the blonde beauty of LORETTA YOUNG as his Jewish daughter in love with a Gentile, ROBERT YOUNG. Told against the background of Napoleon's rise to power, it's a lavishly produced historical yarn that is short of producing a powerful effect when it tells the tale of the Rothschild's struggle to become a banking empire.TCM showed a print which did not include the Technicolor ending, a reasonable looking print otherwise. The good cast includes ALAN MOBRAY, C. AUBREY SMITH, REGINALD OWEN and others from Hollywood's British colony.It tells the story of how the Rothschild established their banking empire at a time when the European bankers wanted nothing to do with Jews and their enterprising ways. BORIS KARLOFF is anything but subtle as a Prussian Count who admits that Arliss is not even being considered when bids are made "because of a technicality"--that technicality being because he is a Jew.Since this was made at a time when the world was indeed experiencing the sort of prejudices in Germany that would eventually lead to The Holocaust, this was a brave film for Hollywood to tackle. Sadly, the result is a film lacking in dramatic intensity.There is nothing powerful in the presentation, and not even the performance of the much revered George Arliss can overcome the script weaknesses and direction that prevent it from being little more than average in effect.

blanche-2 Darryl F. Zanuck covered Napoleon's sweep across Europe in two early films: "Lloyds of London," in which Tyrone Power plays a fictional character who continues insuring the British fleet so that his childhood friend, Horatio Nelson, can win the war; and "The House of Rothschild" in which Nathan Rothschild and his banker brothers provide the financing to beat Napoleon. Both are excellent films.There are a few historical liberties in "The House of Rothschild," but the film is based on fact. George Arliss has a dual role as Mayer Rothschild and his son, Nathan. When the film begins, the family is living in a Prussian Jewish ghetto where Mayer is doing well but doesn't want the tax collectors to know. On his deathbed, he instructs his sons to establish banking houses throughout Europe as so much money is stolen when it is being carried by messengers. The plot then focuses on Nathan and goes into the rampant anti-Semitism which forces Nathan out of an important loan. It also shows his brilliance for business as he fights Count Ledrantz (Boris Karloff) who spreads propaganda and incites pogroms. The climax of the film takes place when it appears Napoleon is winning and Nathan starts buying up everything on the stock market, which is bottoming out, in order to keep the deal he made for the war effort. Though not much is made of it, the Rothschilds had informants everywhere, which enabled them to get information before anyone else. He is able to announce before it is made public that Napoleon has been defeated at Waterloo."House of Rothschild" stars one of the great actors, George Arliss. Other actors from the stage entering films often used tremulous voices and melodramatic gestures but Arliss had a tremendous speaking voice and a grand acting style that made a powerful impression on the screen and infused the characters he played with a believability as well. A blond, beautiful Loretta Young is on hand as his daughter, who is in love with a Gentile named Fitzroy (Robert Young) - and though one would expect the love story to be fiction, it isn't.This film has an interesting history of its own: Excerpts from it, taken out of context, were used in the anti-semitic Nazi films Der ewige Jude and Die Rothschilds. Despite persecution, the Rothschilds remain an extremely powerful family in the present - the original name of the family was Bauer; Rothschild is actually German for "red shield," which is in the center of the family coat of arms. Today, they're in a variety of occupations besides banking - actress Helena Bonham Carter is a Rothschild due to a marriage on her mother's side.

whpratt1 In the person of Nathan Rothschild, overlord of the international banking house that shaped the destiny of Europe, George Arliss has found his most congenial role since Disraeli. The story provides a fasinating study of internatinal intrigue in the nineteenth century. It is presented straight-forwardly, without apology or sentimentality. Because of its lack of dramatic sequence, the picture lapses into passages that become monotonous. The injection of a romantic episode between Nathan's daughter and a Gentile British office, with its mixed-marriage problem during those years, is tritely handled. This film is rarely shown over the years in America and is controversal at times. On the whole, the picture has been skillfully cast, and there are good performances by George Arliss, Reginald Owen and Boris Karloff who gives an excellent performance as Baron Ledrantz.